Experts point to any number of factors — such as affordable prices, extended battery range or openness to new technology — as important factors to consumer acceptance of electric vehicles.

Colin Read, ECOtality vice president of corporate development, believes a reliable infrastructure network that will limit “range anxiety” is vital to making EVs a mainstream reality. That’s where the company’s Level-3 charger comes in.

Called the Blink DC Fast Charger, the 440-volt charger has recently been certified as compliant with both the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the Japanese CHAdeMO charging standards. ECOtality plans to install the Level-3 chargers in the same states (Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Washington, D.C.) in which it is building its Level-2 chargers.

1891

The year William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa, built the first four-wheel electric automobile in the United States.

SOURCE: AccessScience, online version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology

The fast chargers will address concerns about driving range. Because the fast chargers can provide an 80 percent charge in about 15 minutes and a full charge in 25 minutes, EV drivers will no longer be limited to Level-2 charging times of between four and eight hours, Read says. ECOtality describes the fast charger as ideal for high-traffic commercial locations, transportation corridors and fueling stations.

“DC fast chargers may be a solution for a lot of users who will not have access to a home or workplace charger, and will be critical for long-range trips,” Read says.